Generation of near-diffraction-limited, high-power supercontinuum from 1.57 μm to 12 μm with cascaded fluoride and chalcogenide fibers.

We generate a supercontinuum (SC) spectrum ranging from 1.57 μm to 12 μm (20 dB bandwidth) with a soft glass fiber cascade consisting of ---- fiber, fiber, and fiber pumped by a nanosecond thulium master oscillator power amplifier system. The highest on-time average power generated is 417 mW at 33% duty cycle.

Mid-infrared supercontinuum generation from 1.6 to >11 μm using concatenated step-index fluoride and chalcogenide fibers.

We demonstrate an all-fiber supercontinuum source that generates a continuous spectrum from 1.6 μm to >11  μm with 417 mW on-time average power at 33% duty cycle. By utilizing a master oscillator power amplifier pump with three amplification stages and concatenating solid core ZBLAN, arsenic sulfide, and arsenic selenide fibers, we shift 1550 nm light to ∼4.

All-optical histology using ultrashort laser pulses.

As a means to automate the three-dimensional histological analysis of brain tissue, we demonstrate the use of femtosecond laser pulses to iteratively cut and image fixed as well as fresh tissue. Cuts are accomplished with 1 to 10 microJ pulses to ablate tissue with micron precision. We show that the permeability, immunoreactivity, and optical clarity of the tissue is retained after pulsed laser cutting.